


Come Sing for Me

by Copper_Nails (Her_Madjesty)



Series: Opera House!AU [1]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Leia is beautiful and works too hard, Luke is an actual sunbeam, Opera House!AU, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-29
Updated: 2016-01-29
Packaged: 2018-05-17 02:06:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5849824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Her_Madjesty/pseuds/Copper_Nails
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As administrative director of the Coruscant Opera House, Leia is not required to look over any of the audition tapes the many hopeful singers sends in, yet she makes a point to watch every one. Her brother is required to watch them with her both because it’s in his job description, and because Leia refuses to suffer alone.</p><p>Or:</p><p>Rey sends her audition tape to Coruscant Opera House, run by living legends Leia Organa-Solo and Luke Skywalker. Opera!AU teaser piece.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Come Sing for Me

**Author's Note:**

> This is a teaser piece for a work I'll be writing over the next month or so. I'm rather excited about it, so I wanted to let you (whoever you are) have a peek at what's in store! This piece serves as a short of prequel to the one I intend to write. In any case, I hope you like it! Tell your friends, your family, your cats and your dogs: there's a show coming to the opera and it's staring Reylo!
> 
> Edit: I'm working on first round rewrites of the Opera piece. It was going to be my Reylo Big Bang piece, and I think I'll still be releasing it in July, but I want to give it the proper attention it deserves. I hope you're excited!

“There’s little that hasn’t been said about the Skywalker twins and their influence on the musical world. With Anakin Skywalker’s talent and Padme Amidala’s head for business, it’s no surprise that the twins became the legends they are today. Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa-Solo (née Skywalker) spent years performing on different stages around the world. Their voices are masterworks, together and separately. Ms. Organa-Solo is best known for her role as Christine Daaé, which she debuted at the premiere of _The Phantom of the Opera_ on the Coruscant stage. Mr. Skywalker is known for his performance as Prospero in the operatic adaptation of Shakespeare’s _The Tempest_ , as well as his frequent guest appearances on the television show, _Glee_. Now retired from performing, the siblings work together as the administrative and music directors at Coruscant Opera House, where they host a suite of shows, be they classic opera or newly composed. Rumor has it that a traveling version of the musical sensation _Hamilton_ has been invited to the stage….”

 – _Bespin Art Review,_ “Leaving Legacies Behind.”

* * *

 

Leia sits on her living room floor, squinting at a too-bright computer screen. Her brother sits next to her, cradling a pad of paper in hand. There’s a wine bottle on the coffee table beside them that’s three-fourths of the way empty.

“I don’t like this one,” Leia grumbles, motioning towards the woman on screen. “She’s been sharp through most of the aria and hasn’t done a thing to correct herself. If she’s not incompetent, then she’s at least tone deaf.”

“Oh, please,” Luke scoffs, though his tone is light. You can’t get through Bimmisaari School of Music if you’re tone deaf. She’s nervous. Let her be.”

Leia takes a sip straight from the bottle before passing it to her brother. “Move on to the next one. We’re not calling her in.”

She is, even now, every inch a soprano, taking charge of a room even when she doesn’t mean to. Luke sighs, but does as she requests.

As administrative director of the Coruscant Opera House, Leia is not required to look over any of the audition tapes the many hopeful singers sends in, yet she makes a point to watch every one. Her brother is required to watch them with her both because it’s in his job description, and because Leia refuses to suffer alone.

Coruscant has recently advertised an opening for a soprano. They’re offering a two year contract, extendable, and reasonable pay, alongside the opportunity to work with what the art world calls ‘living legends’. Naturally, they’ve attracted a lot of attention.

Not all of it is good.

Actually, little of it is good.

They have five more videos to get through before they can call it a night. Luke queues the next up on screen and takes a drink from the bottle. “Do you remember your first time?” he asks, handing it back to his sister. “Auditioning, I mean. Because I remember coming home one day and finding all of your magazines spread out over the kitchen table with big red circles around certain names –”

“Oh, I remember,” Leia chuckles. “I wanted to get in _everywhere_. Han had to drive me to all my auditions because dad wouldn’t let me take the car, and he _hated_ it. He made me late more than once.” She sighs, happy. “Don’t know why I thought I could rely on him.”

Han Solo was never one for the musical world, not even after marrying into the Skywalker family. Leia misses him every day, now that he’s gone; the opera house isn’t the same without his endless complaining.

“And then there was that time,” Luke goes on. “When you left an audition crying, because the managers of the company told you that you’d never go anywhere –”

“And father offered to burn the building down?” Leia finishes. “Oh, yes, I remember that. I should have let him!”

“But imagine how _silly_ they felt,” Luke giggles. “Especially after your reviews from _Phantom_ were released. There must have been tears for ages.”

“As there should have been,” Leia sniffs. “They still haven’t apologized to me, you know.”

Luke’s giggles turn to full-fledged laughter. “The men who interviewed you are either retired or dead.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Leia says. “I still want an apology.”

The video on screen has finished loading and starts to play. The twins lapse into amused silence as the woman introduces herself. She’s only half-way through her first aria when Leia stops paying attention. She reaches forward and pauses the video, trying to ignore Luke’s exasperation.

“What?” she asks. “We can go back and listen to her later. She’s boring.”

“She’s not lacking for ability.”

“I never said that she was. I said she was boring. Write her down as a maybe, if it makes you feel better, but I don’t want to listen to any more.”

Luke sighs and scribbles something down on the pad of paper next to him. Leia squints at the next file name before starting the video.

She and Luke are arguing over the next singer’s tone when the front door swings open. A tall figure lopes in and collapses on the couch behind them without so much as a ‘hello’. The argument stops, and the twins exchange an amused glance.

“It’s good to see you, Ben,” Luke says. “Long day?”

“I’m dropping out,” Benjamin Solo moans. “I don’t care what anyone says; if I have to spend another day performing with _amateurs_ , I’m going to tear my scores in half. We went through scales for an hour and a half today. Scales. _For over an hour._ ”

“You’re not dropping out,” Leia says, sympathetic yet stern. “Sometimes a reminder of the basics is a good thing. Having everyone work on them at once is a way to bring a team together.”

Ben strikes an odd balance between his mother’s drive and his father’s disregard for authority. He’s a tenor, and talented, but chafing under the constraints of the Ziggurat Conservatory. . Leia runs a hand through his hair and wishes, fiercely, that Han was there to help him grow.

“I’ve had the basics under my belt since before I could walk. I don’t want to waste my time _teambuilding_ ,” Ben snaps. He jolts his head away from his mother’s touch. “It’s boring, and I hate it. Can’t I come work for you instead of these idiots?”

“No, you may not,” Leia says. “If I bought you out of your contract, critics would say that you lacked talent, or independence, or both. No one else would hire you afterward, either.” She purses her lips in mock consideration. “Of course, that means you’d be stuck with us forever, so I suppose I could allow it –”

“Yeah, forget I asked,” Ben says. The disgust in his voice stings, but Leia chuckles anyway.

“What kept you out so late tonight, Ben?” Luke asks, gentle in his redirection.

Ben sighs and plants his face into the couch cushions. “Phasma wanted to run her audition for _Die Fledermaus_ with a partner,” he grumbles. “And Hux wasn’t answering his phone.”

Leia turns away to hide her laugh.

“Well, it was good of you to stay and help her,” Luke says. He hesitates, then takes the wine bottle in hand and passes it to his nephew. Ben takes it and hesitates, glancing at his mother. Before Leia can say a word, he takes a drink, pulling long enough that she fears he’ll drain the bottle. When he sets it aside, there’s hardly a swallow left.

“You shouldn’t watch auditions drunk,” he chides as he passes the bottle back. Leia rolls her eyes and ignores Luke’s laughter in favor of pulling up the next video.

The next girl on screen is a slight thing. Her makeup is lovely, but Leia can see hints of purple bags under her eyes. When she smiles, though, it hardly matters; the room around her seems to fill with light.

“Hello,” she says, bringing her hand up to wave. “My name is Rey Kenobi. I’m a recent graduate of Jakku’s School of Music. I’ll be singing –”

“Kenobi?” Luke lunges forward to pause the recording. “Did she say Kenobi?”

“She did,” Leia nods. She goes to restart the video, but then hesitates. She looks back and sees her son glaring at the screen. “What’s the matter?”

“You shouldn’t listen to her.”

“And why not?” Luke asks. “She’s a Kenobi. Ben Kenobi, your namesake, was one of the best performers to perform on our stage! He had the most versatile voice I’d ever heard. He taught me everything I know!”

“Which is exactly why you shouldn’t listen to her,” Ben snaps. “You’ll just think she’s going to be another him, and she’ll disappoint you.” He rolls over after that, his back to the screen. It’s an effective end to the conversation, but Leia decides to ignore her cue.

“He has a point,” she says to her brother. “Our expectations for her can be neither higher nor lower than they were for anyone else.”

“And they won’t be,” Luke rolls his eyes. “We haven’t even heard the girl sing yet. We can discuss bias after the recording’s done.”

Leia sighs and lets the audition play.

“– ‘Don’t Rain on My Parade’, from _Funny Girl_ ; ‘Je Veux Vivre’, from _Romeo et Juilette_ ; and ‘Green Finch and Linnet Bird’, from _Sweeny Todd_.”     

“She must have quite a range,” Luke muses as Rey shuffles her feet.

“Trained classically and operatically,” Leia murmurs. “Write that down.”

They go quiet as Rey starts to sing.

Leia feels her breath catch in her throat. Rey’s voice fills her practice room, startlingly clear. She’s not a passive performer, and it shows: her rendition of _Funny Girl_ ’s most popular song isn’t lacking for sass. Leia hears her brother giggle and is quick to shush him.

Her transition to the operatic style is less than flawless, but her tone quality doesn’t falter. ‘Green Finch’ stretches her range, but she manages; her notes stay full and light. Leia feels a tingling of excitement building in her brain.

The video ends too soon. Rey offers her audience a short bow and a thank you before the screen goes dark.

The living room is silent.

“Ha!” Luke’s cheer is like a punch to the gut. “What did I tell you?”

“She’s impressive,” Leia admits. The girl needs training, and focus, but that’s nothing that can’t be fixed with a little attention. Leia sees no reason not to give her an in-person addition, yet she finds herself glancing over her shoulder and looking at the expanse of her son’s back.

“Ben?”

Her son is quiet. Then: “She’ll only disappoint you.”

He pushes himself off the couch and glares at the screen before walking away. Some of the joy in Leia’s chest dies as she hears his bedroom door slam shut.

Luke is staring at her, when she looks back, his face a mask. He hesitates, then takes her hand in his. “He’s wrong,” he says. “Just think of it: a Kenobi, back on the Coruscant stage? It’s meant to be.”

Leia gives his hand a squeeze. “Perhaps. But she’s not part of the company yet.” She allows herself a smile. “I’ll let her know that she has an audition.”

Luke doesn’t bother to hide his grin.

***

Rey Kenobi wakes the next morning and finds an email from the Coruscant Opera House waiting in her inbox.

**Author's Note:**

> 1) Sorry for the Glee reference  
> 2) Sorry for the Hamilton reference  
> 3) Sorry for the name dropping, but the Star Wars Universe is MASSIVE and I was on Wookieepedia for ages.  
> 4) It's possible this will be edited before the follow-up piece is posted. I'm not sure yet, but you know how writers get. We're a picky lot.
> 
> Thanks for reading! I'd love to know what you thought.


End file.
